TWO hundred sailors have paraded in Derry to mark 75 years since the US Navy set up its Second World War base in the city.
Personnel from the USS Mason DDG87, which was anchored in Belfast over the weekend, were bussed to Derry for the anniversary ceremony.
Led by commanding officer, Commander Chris Gilbertson along with Fleet Master Chief Raymond D Kemp, the naval personnel joined politician John Hume and singer-songwriter Phil Coulter at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel to celebrate the anniversary of Base One Europe.
The event involved a wreath laying ceremony in the hotel grounds plus an interfaith service in St Mary’s Church, Ardmore and commemorative dinner.
The Co Derry hotel has a long association with the US Navy and features a permanent exhibition - Base One Europe - inside its premises.
The present USS Mason ship is named to honour the crew of the Second World War's USS Mason DE529 - the only African-American sailors to take a US warship into combat.
Author and filmmaker Mary Pat Kelly, the US representative of the Beech Hill US Navy Marine Corps Friendship Association, who helped organise the event said the city and hotel played a significant role during a pivotal time in US military history.
Ms Kelly, who directed the 2004 film Proud, which chronicles the experiences of the African-American crew of the original USS Mason in Northern Ireland in 1944, said it was a "significant" day for the ship's crew.
"This is the first visit to Northern Ireland of a US Navy ship in 17 years and the crew’s arrival at the Beech Hill is an indication of just how significant the Navy considers Derry to be in its history," she added.
A historic day for @BeechHillDerry. Thanks to the USS Mason crew for visiting us to mark the 75th anniversary of @Base1Europe in WWII pic.twitter.com/O684S14gzh
— Beech Hill Derry (@BeechHillDerry) December 19, 2016
Beech Hill Country House Hotel owner Patsy O’Kane said: “We are very proud of the Beech Hill’s association with the US Navy and US Marines and will continue to work hard to build on our very strong relationship.”
When the US entered the Second World War after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 - few people knew that 400 US Navy personnel had been in Derry since July.
The personnel had been busy building what would become the largest US Navy base in Europe and a ‘home away from home’ for the US Destroyers and Destroy Escorts who would go on to defeat the Nazi U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Known as Base One Europe, the facility employed thousands of civilians not only from the city but from the across Ireland in its ship repair yard and innovative naval hospital.
